on call

Have no fear

Everyone hates bullies. In fact, bullying has become such a serious problem in Western countries that now even mobile phone companies are sitting up and taking notice. A mobile phone service called Pingalert is being launched in the UK, which will enable a kid with a cellphone to send a message to his or her parents’ phones and let them know if there is any trouble brewing. If the child is on the road and is being harassed by a bully, he can secretly send a message through the service. Pingalert immediately sends a text message and ? if possible ? a picture message map of the area where the child might be located. The whole process is so quick that in a few seconds the parent gets to know about it and can come to help, while the bully doesn’t get wind of it. Now, if only they would launch something like this in India.

on the run

Police plight

Talking of mischief-mongers, a gang of teenage thieves led four police cars on a wild goose chase recently in the Greek town of Patras. The gang was escaping in a cart pulled by a donkey but it took the police cars over an hour to catch them. The unequal chase finally ended when the cart reached a dead end. The police caught the thieves with a safe stolen from a local hospital. So what took the cops so long? Apparently, the winding lanes of the town caused the delay.